


A Fortress of Your Own Design

by seasonofthegeek



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Characters, as if that ever really happens, because i'm still not sure, but I'll wait to tag them as they happen probably, figuring out how to be an adult, there will be ships at some point
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:00:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22392163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasonofthegeek/pseuds/seasonofthegeek
Summary: Max is the Guardian of the Miraculous and has created a well-designed system that allows for a team of heroes to be dispatched on schedules so that everyone has a chance to have their own lives. There has been no big threat since Hawk Moth was defeated, so most of the hero work comes with helping the police and keeping a general eye on the city. Without having an overload of hero work to concentrate on, the team has to figure out what direction each member wants to take their life and some decisions are easier than others.I just wanted to write a story about the kids growing up and trying to learn how to adult and be heroes. :)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29





	A Fortress of Your Own Design

“Perimeter breach,” Hawking squawked in his artificial voice. “Initiating security protocol alpha-three-tango--”

“It appears King Monkey is paying us a visit,” Markov interrupted, swinging over to Hawking’s charging bay. “Override security protocol.” The floating AI turned to his creator. “I’ll make a note to have his body scans put into the security system so his perimeter breaches can be ignored. Hawking’s hasn’t learned the difference between friend and foe yet. We need to reconfigure his knowledge banks.”

Max watched his friend stroll towards the building on the security feed, the large fence with its prominent NO TRESPASSING sign at his back. “He knows better than to try to sneak in. He doesn’t get any special treatment. Hawking, initiate the security protocol.”

“Max!” Markov’s digital eyes slanted in disapproval. 

“It’s a lesson he needs to learn.” He rolled his chair to a bank of monitors. “Bring up the last ten calls over the police scanner please, Olivia.”

“Yes, sir,” the computer replied in a pleasant tone. “Listed in order from oldest to most recent and will update for the next hour.”

“Thank you.”

“He’s taken down the shockbot you posted by the door,” Markov announced with a hint of amusement in his tone. “Knocked it against the wall with the back of his hand and laughed. I don’t think there will be any piecing it back together.”

Max ignored him. “Olivia, more information on line five please.”

“Silent alarm tripped in the Louvre Museum, exhibit four-nine-seven-bee,” she replied evenly. “Police have been notified and are in route.”

“Security footage?” Max sat forward in his chair to watch as the grainy night vision footage played across the screen closest to him.

“Firewall is temporarily keeping me out on the inside but street and perimeter cameras show five possible perpetrators.”

“Five is a lot for a quick heist. Chat’s on patrol. I’ll see if he can swing by in case the police need help.” He held out his hand and Hawking crossed the room to drop a tablet into his palm and floated back to its station. Max opened the communication app and moved back to his computer bank to pull up the security feeds around the museum as Olivia brought down the firewalls. “Chat Noir, do you copy?”

“Loud and clear. I was just finishing up my route, and I have the sneaking suspicion you’re going to tell me that’s not the case,” Chat Noir answered back. Ambient city sounds filtered in behind his voice.

“Louvre break-in. I can see if someone else is nearby.” Max pulled up the contact list on the tablet and checked GPS coordinates. “King Monkey is currently breaking in here so I can easily send him.”

“Sounds about right. You trying to electrocute him again?” he chuckled over the line. "I don’t mind swinging by the museum.” 

“He knows what to expect when he comes here.” Max felt his lips tug up in a smirk as he watched the paw print icon on one of his monitors change direction to head to the museum. “If you’re sure you can handle it on your own, I’ll hold off on calling in reinforcements.”

“Hey, been doing this longer than you have, Oracle.”

“Not my name.”

Chat Noir laughed over the comm line. “Sure, sure. I’ll let you know what I see when I get there. Ladybug is busy tonight though so don’t bother her.”

“I’m aware and I’ll be waiting to here from you.” Max muted his line and leaned in to review the security footage Olivia had sent to his screen. “Any I.D. scans come through?”

“Running partial face scans through databases now. Currently no hits.”

“Hmmm.” He sat back in his chair and the springs creaked. “Big move for first offenders.”

“Hey, are you going to let me in or do you want me to break this door down too? I know you’ve been watching me, man,” Kim bellowed from the other side of the steel door blocking passage to the room.

“You didn’t follow protocol,” Max replied, opening up the video line so he could see his friend on the other side of the door.

Kim stared up at him through the screen with a confused expression. “Huh?”

“No one is supposed to come here except for emergencies. Is there an emergency?”

Xuppu stuck his tongue out from his place on Kim’s shoulder. “This guy,” he scoffed. “Are we sure he’s really the Guardian?”

“The emergency is I bet you haven’t eaten anything except those power bar thingies you keep in there and I know for a fact you haven’t been home in a few days. I checked with Marcus. He’s the best doorman ever. He even gave me one of the donuts he was eating during his break.” Kim lifted a paper bag and grinned. “And I brought something really good for you for dinner. Let me in, Max.”

“Code names,” he reminded him with a sigh. “And I’m fine. You might need to meet up with Chat Noir at the Louvre. There’s a break-in.”

“Cool. Let me in and I can meet up with him after I make sure you eat this.”

“I’m not a child. I know the exact amount of nutrients I need to function at my best level. Actually I knew that as a child as well. I was the one telling you what to eat, if you’ll recall.”

“Come on, Ma...Pegasus. Just let me in.”

“This place is supposed to stay secret. You can’t keep drawing attention to it by visiting so much.” Max shook his head. “Make sure you aren’t seen when you leave.”

“It’s an old office building with a construction fence around it. No one is paying any attention,” Kim whined. “Come on. I miss hanging out with you. You’ve been holed up in there for ages.”

“He has a point,” Markov chimed in to the irritation of his creator. “More human interaction would be good for your overall well-being. I can bring up statistics if you would like.”

“All the calculations show that it’s safer if I stay here for longer and varied bouts of time so an observer couldn’t pinpoint my schedule since there isn’t one,” Max pointed out. “I have everything I need. I’ll let Chat know you’ll be meeting him, King Monkey.”

Kim stared into the screen for a long minute before his shoulders dropped and he sighed. “Fine. I’m going to leave the bag outside the door so if you don’t get it soon, it’s gonna start smelling up the place. Your mom says hi, by the way. She misses you too.” He turned without another word and faded into the darkness of the hall.

“He’s trouble, that one.” Kaalki stretched and rose from the pillow she’d been napping on. “But I think I rather like him.”

Max watched the empty screen and tried to ignore the familiar lonely feeling creeping up on him.  
___

“The wine and cheese is lovely and all, Marinette, but do you want to tell us why you really called this emergency girls’ night?” Alya set her empty wine glass on the coffee table and looked to her best friend expectantly.

Marinette stood and smoothed her dress down in a nervous gesture. “Right, uh, well, so here’s the thing... So there was this, um, offer, I guess? Wait, maybe I need to go back further than that.” 

Alix snorted. “Come on, just get it out. It’s not going to be as bad as you think.”

“Wait, you’ve been to this moment? Can you just tell what to do?” Marinette perked up hopefully. 

“Nope. I like to keep the future in the future. It’s safer that way.” The other woman grinned and plucked a piece of cheese of the tray. “But you’re going to be fine so go ahead and spill the beans already.” She popped the cheese into her mouth with a self-satisfied hum.

“You know whatever it is, we’ll support you,” Mylene added with a gentle smile.

“I was offered a job with a fashion house. Like a real position, not just an internship.” Marinette bit her lip and tensed for the reaction.

“That’s amazing, girl! Why wouldn’t you want to tell us that?!” Alya got off the couch and pulled her into a hug. 

“Well, um, it’s not exactly local.”

“How not local?” Rose asked.

Marinette winced, feeling Alya’s arms around her loosen. “New York.”

“Is there a New York in France now? Because I hope that’s what you mean.” Alya stepped back. “New York, really?”

“I never thought they would call me back,” Marinette explained in a rush. “I was looking for job openings and sent in my portfolio, and seriously, never in a million years did I think they would actually want me, but they called for a phone interview and then they called for another one and then the third one was today and the head designer herself offered me the job and I just...” She took in a shaky breath and met Alya’s eyes. “It’s an amazing opportunity.”

“You’ve had three phone interviews?” Alya raised an eyebrow. “And you didn’t tell anyone, not even...?”

“No...”

“But she’s telling us now!” Rose interjected.

“Right, uh, now we know,” Juleka added after a nudge from her girlfriend. 

“Are you mad?” Marinette asked aloud but it was obvious who the question was meant for.

Alya shook her head. “Surprised but not mad. You deserve something like this, girl. Your work is amazing and you’re amazing and I think you already know what your decision is.” Marinette pulled her into tight hug, murmuring thanks into her hair.

“So now that that’s settled,” Alix stood and stretched. “Who wants to go grab some real food?” 

“We should crash Kagami’s lawyer gala downtown,” Mylene teased. “Chloe would have a conniption.”

“We mere mortals can’t be seen among the royal elite of Paris.” Alya flipped her hair dramatically while still keeping an arm around Marinette. “I could kill for some pasta though. I’ve been craving it all week.”

“Ooo, I think Japanese sounds good. Some teriyaki chicken maybe?” Rose added.

“I was just talking about a pizza or something,” Alix shrugged.

“Call in night?” Marinette suggested, wiping a few stray tears from her eyes after finally releasing her best friend. 

“Yes!”  
___

“Wait, did Max send you too because I’m starting to feel a little self-conscious about his faith in my abilities.” Chat Noir looked over at Carapace as he settled down beside him and King Monkey. 

“Nah, Wayzz and I just needed to get out of the house and spotted you guys on the app. What’s going on?”

“One of the exhibit alarms was triggered and five perps were seen breaking into the museum on camera but the police haven’t found anything out of the ordinary,” he reported.

“So we’re waiting in case they’re hiding inside until they think the coast is clear,” King Monkey finished. “And at least you guys want to hang out.”

“Still no luck getting Max to leave his Guardian fortress?”

“Not so much,” he sighed. “I worry about him in there.”

“He’ll be okay. I think he’s just taking his role seriously.”

“You don’t know him like I do. He gets too caught up in stuff. He has to be reminded that there’s more to life.” The bigger man shook his head. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, but it’d make me feel better if I could get him to take a break.”

“Maybe we can storm his fortress and kidnap him,” Chat Noir suggested, amusement in his tone. “I just don’t want to get electrocuted or shot or something.”

“Eh, it doesn’t hurt as much as you would think.” King Monkey grinned at him. “I think I’m starting to like it actually.”

“That’s troubling.”  
___

“Looks like we’re in for the night. Spotted three heroes staked out across the street. We’ll wait ‘em out.” The leader of the museum heist made a show of stretching his arms over his head. “All right, let’s get back into the wall. No need to get caught now when we’ve already gotten what we came for.”

“It’s so cramped in there, man. Can’t we just leave one at a time?” Another thief complained.

“Sure. You get caught and see what she does to you. I’ll see ya at your funeral.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

A third thief visibly shivered. “I’m just ready to be done with this job. The client gives me bad vibes.”

“Says the criminal,” the leader scoffed. “A job’s a job and this one pays well. Now shut up and get hidden with the others in case security comes sniffing around again.”


End file.
